Heritage
by beirirangu
Summary: Written by "Abramus5250", it's the story of Spike awakening after his first long sleep of five years, only to discover that not only there are a LOT of young fillies, but that they look surprisingly different, yet familiar. - Post Scriptum I have been given permission to post this and Abramus removed it from his account due to conflicts with his personal beliefs
1. It Can be a Bitch

Deep within the bowels of a large cave, a slumbering form was beginning to stir. Its impenetrable hide shone in the dim light of ten thousand tiny glow worms, the rough scales far stronger than any weapon in the world. Teeth like blades that could crunch through the hardest gemstones as if they were popcorn; talons that could claw through rock like it was mere tissue paper. Spines trailed down its back, giving it a fearsome appearance, one that would have sent any lesser creature running off in fear.

As the great green eyes opened, the creature's mouth yawned, exposing row after row of teeth. A long tongue lazily flickered out, the sensitive organ tasting the air for the first time in years. The great beast groaned, slowly rising to its feet as it began to stretch it's long, sinuous body.

"Five years already?" Spike groaned as he scratched the back of his neck like a waking dog. "Time sure flies when you're asleep."

Indeed, Spike had just begun the cycle through which dragons aged naturally. After beginning to molt six years before, Twilight had asked Luna for pointers, seeing as Celestia didn't have any real literature on dragons and was often far too busy with matters of the state. Princess Luna, surprisingly, had connections with a very old dragon she had known in her youth, who was now just entering the twilight years of his life. Twilight, Spike and Luna had then all journeyed to and consulted with this great, wise dragon, who had given them more than enough material to write several books on dragons. As such, Spike now knew practically as much about dragons as any other dragon did.

As he slowly wandered out of the cave and into the light of a bright midday sun, he looked himself over. Still the same color, still a dragon, and still male, yep, most definitely as normal as he was before he went in.

"No wings yet, but that old dragon said they should come in time," he muttered, glancing over his body. His voice was quite a bit deeper now, smooth and very melodious; he wondered if he could sing now. "Scales look a bit thicker, and... have I grown a bit? I don't remember being quite so muscular."

Indeed, Spike's body was nowhere near as small as it had been. All remnants of his baby fat had (thankfully) vanished upon his first molt six years before, leaving a very lean and significantly larger exterior. Still, five years after his first "aging nap", as Twilight had called it, that lean body has swollen with muscles all over the place, and there was a definite lump of muscles along his entire back that hadn't been there before.

"Must be for the wings," Spike thought. "When I get them, anyway."

So, he was larger, more muscular, and his tail was nearly half again the length it had been when he had gone to sleep. Other than the odd sensation of trying to use limbs that were a big bigger than he remembered... he didn't feel too different. Looking out away from the cave, he saw something he didn't remember when he had first gone to sleep; namely, a path leading straight from the entrance of his cave. Come to think of it, Twilight hadn't said anything about developing the landscape around his cave; why were there some patches of bare earth, likely where something may have rested? Had there been buildings near his cave?

"I'll have to ask her about it," the dragon said, walking away from the cave and off in the direction of Ponyville. This very cave had belonged to some great green dragon some time ago, but by the time Spike had gone to sleep in it, that dragon had long since moved on to other parts. His story always had something about "meddlesome ponies" in it, though he'd never have admitted to other dragons that Celestia had simply asked him nicely to leave.

Walking down the path, Spike didn't really think anything else looked different from five years before. Sure, a few large trees were gone, though many more had sprung up in their places, but other than that... it was like he hadn't fallen asleep at all. There were no signs of any old disaster or anything, so that meant his five years of rest must have occurred during an unprecedented length of peace for Equestria. When he had been awake, there had always been some catastrophe looming on the horizon or sweeping over the kingdom. The fact that nothing was out of the ordinary greatly pleased him.

Strolling along, he turned a corner and a familiar view came into sight; Ponyville. Ah, it really was like turning back the clock; other than maybe five new buildings along the outskirts, the place hadn't changed at all. The clock tower was right where it should be, the schoolhouse still sat on the hill, and there, near the center of town, sat the great tree library.

"Look out below!" he heard a voice shout, and ducked in time for three little blurs to pass right overhead. Spinning in midair, the little ponies looked down on the dragon, a mixture of curiosity and friendliness marking their faces. "Sorry mister; we were just racing."

"It's quite all right," Spike said, looking up at the three... pegasi? They all seemed... different from what he normally believed pegasus to look like. For one, all three had bumps running along their backs, and their wings... were they sick? They seemed far larger and yet less feathery than those of other pegasi.

"You headed into Ponyville?" the first one asked, her bright green eyes looking over Spike. She seemed to be the leader of the group, and judging from their blank flanks and small, hoof-sewn capes, were likely some of the newer recruits of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Yes," the dragon replied. "I'm coming home to visit Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh, are you friends with her?" one of the other asked, a small incisor poking from her upper lip as she smiled.

"Actually, I more like her adopted brother and best friend," Spike said. "Is she in the library?"

"Yeah; she spends most of her days in there when she's not too busy," the third faux-pegasi said, his tail ending in a curious little spade-like shape. "You said you were coming home; have you been on vacation or something?"

"You might say that," the dragon said with a chuckle. "I really must be going."

"Okay, seeya!" the three little ponies said, and with a small gust of wind they zoomed off.

Spike blinked a few times; that departure was rather... abrupt. "Kids," he thought, shaking his head and setting off down the path. Off in the distance, he could see several ponies milling about some apple trees that definitely hadn't been there when he had gone to sleep. Come to think of it, they seemed awfully familiar; were they related to Applejack?

Then one kicked one of the apple trees; yep, they were related to her all right. How else could that one rather large colt knock nearly every apple out of the tree with one good kick? He even had the same mane color as Applejack, though the way his mane stood straight up did look a bit odd...

"Probably just some new style these days," Spike muttered as he continued on, growing ever closer to his final destination. Soon enough, he was no longer on the outskirts of the town, but within it. Passing an ever-bustling Sugarcube Corner, he noticed something rather odd; there were a lot more colts and fillies running all around Ponyville. Flying overhead, racing past market stalls, some even magically propelling themselves on small scooters or wagons with friends: had there been a population boom when he was gone? Then again, the sheer number of mares in town meant that surely that some of them belonged to the same parent... right?

"Maybe not everything is as how I remember it," he thought as a group of five colts rushed past him. They were all playing tag, it seemed, but the lone filly that was chasing them... she didn't run like a normal pony. She had a feline grace to her that struck Spike as being very odd, yet incredibly familiar; she even pounced like a small cougar onto one of the laughing colts. Ponyville may not have changed much in structure or overall appearance during his "hibernation", but the residents sure had.

Wait a minute... that was another thing; there were a lot more colts running around now than when he was younger. A significantly larger number; he counted no less than fifteen pegasi colts flying overhead, and at least thirty unicorn and earth pony colts playing in the streets. There were maybe half as many fillies running around, yet everywhere he looked he saw still more little ponies, all walking around with their mother or...

"Father?" he thought as he kept on walking. None of these little fillies or colts seemed to be running around with a father; just a mother. Granted, he had often seen such a thing in the past, but there had been the occasional stallion tagging along with his mare. Now, other than the few stallions working outside, he didn't see a single stallion walking with a mare or what would have been his foals. It was strange, almost surreal, like a dream he hadn't quite yet scrubbed from his memory.

"Okay, I definitely need to see Twilight now," Spike thought, picking up the pace. Moving past quite a few more foals (seriously, how many were there?), the dragon finally found himself in front of the library. Clearing his throat, he gently rapped against the door, one, two, three...

"Spike!" a voice shouted, and in an instant a purple shape had burst open the door, nearly knowing it off its hinges, and had enveloped him in a great hug. Surprise fading quickly, Spike returned the hug with gusto. "It's so good to see you!"

"Twilight, it's good to see you too," he said, managing to pry the princess off of his purple neck. "Has it really been five years?"

"Five years to the minute when you fell asleep in the cave!" she said, beaming as she looked Spike up and down. "Well, technically you're early by about forty-five seconds, but that's neither here nor there. Come inside, I'm sure you have so many questions!"

"Yeah... a few," the dragon said, following the princess inside and closing the door behind them. "Where is everypony else? Here I'd have thought Pinkie Pie would have this great big party planned for as soon as I walked through the door."

"It took a lot of convincing on our part, but we all eventually agreed that it'd be best for you to get used to your new surroundings before we threw you any sort of party," Twilight said. "Besides, she's really busy helping to run Sugarcube Corner, and Rarity's off in Manehattan working with Coco Pommel on some new fashion line. So, even if we wanted to, our scheduling conflicts wouldn't have allowed for a party today. Don't worry, we've scheduled you one for next weekend," Twilight added hastily.

"Well, thanks, I guess," Spike said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Say, Twilight, can I ask you something?"

"Go right ahead, Spike," the former unicorn said, her wings helping her keep aloft as she gingerly placed a book on one of the top shelves.

"Why are there so many fillies and colts running around Ponyville?" the dragon asked.

The princess froze for a brief second before continuing on with her work. "By whatever do you mean. Spike?" she asked.

"Well, on my way here, I've seen more fillies and colts running around than I've ever seen before," the dragon said. "Also, they look... different. I mean, I met these three pegasi, and they seemed a bit unlike what I remember pegasus usually look like."

"Oh, you did?" Twilight asked, her voice sounding strangely... distant.

"Yeah, and I also saw this big colt, probably one of Applejack's relatives, knock almost all of the apples out of a tree with just one kick! I mean, for a colt his age, he's pretty strong. What do you think Twilight? Twilight?"

The alicorn princess set the book down on the shelf and sighed, her wingbeats slowing down. Gently, as she fluttered to the floor, she turned around and looked Spike in the eyes with a curious expression on her face. "Spike? Do you want the long answer, or the short answer?" she asked, her tone sounding entirely out of place; mysterious, foreboding, even... resigned?

"What?" he asked.

"I'll take that as a yes; long story it is," Twilight said, gently pulling up a chair for herself to sit on. "Pay attention Spike, this won't be long, but it is very important that you listen to me."

"Um, hey, what are you-,"

"It was one year after your hibernation began; everything was fine in Equestria. No rampaging monsters, the library hadn't been set on fire in over five month, and the Elements of Harmony hadn't been used since before you went to sleep. Then, everything changed when the Changelings attacked."

"Wait, they attacked?!"

"Spike, I said listen to me. Yes, they attacked, but it wasn't long before they were overcome by the unlikeliest of allies; Queen Chrysalis herself. You see, it was a bitterly rival hive of hers, much like how ants have rival colonies, and even though she didn't like Equestria all that much, her sheer hatred for this rival hive made her forsake any and all hatred she personally had against us. She helped us drive them off, and in exchange, she was given something she had been waiting many years for; a place for her kind to stay. They now inhabit the Badlands between Appaloosa and the sea, though she did have one stipulation to go along with that."

"What was it?"

"I'll tell you in a bit, Spike; okay, back to the story. Now, soon after the war, both Celestia and Luna realized that it would be folly for our nation to rely solely on several small groups of ponies to win things like wars. The Elements of Harmony can only do so much, the Wonderbolts are useless in a large scale conflict, the guards couldn't even handle their own against the first Changeling invasion, and even both Luna and Celestia can't take on every threat ever. Not even Discord could handle everything for us, seeing as his way of "handling things" might lead to an even bigger problem, even if it were completely accidental on his part. So, Celestia and Luna agreed that we needed to build up our defensive military forces, and as such instituted a large-scale repopulation program."

Spike could already see a problem in this. "Uh, Twi-,"

"Hush, Spike: now, this program would have been a big deal in a time of peace, but seeing as we were very nearly conquered by this other hive of changelings, everypony accepted the fact such a thing was necessary. So, with consent from all the princesses, breeding programs were established to increase the populations of every village, town and city within the kingdom. Now of course, we needed more stallions, seeing as we have so few to begin with and too few could lead to future problems of inbreeding, so Princess Cadence offered her assistance with many a noble crystal stallion. Still it wasn't enough, and into the second year of your hibernation, I ran the numbers."

"Let me guess; you ran them perfectly ten times, and in each case, you realized there wouldn't be enough stallions to face a threat?" Spike asked.

"Actually, I ran the numbers twenty times, but yes, that was the conclusion," Twilight said. "That was where you came in, Spike."

"What?"

"Yes, you; you see, dragons have a very peculiar biology. Your species is immune to not only the effects of inbreeding, but also cross-breeding. This means that your kind, whenever it breeds with another species, always produces healthy offspring that, unlike other crosses, are not infertile. Also, your dragon DNA has a strange habit of not making itself truly known unless the offspring acts in a way to naturally bring out these traits, like trying to eat gems or becoming used to greater fluctuations of heat. Then, and only then, will they develop far more dragon-like characteristics. If not, they shall remain almost entirely "un-dragon" in appearance, save for a few things here or there, but the dragon part of them can still be passed on to their offspring. Think of it like a light switch; it won;t turn on unless you make it turn on."

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute, I-,"

"Hush, I'm almost done. Now, dragons, when they sleep, don't actually sleep, but enter a semi-trance state where they are completely within their minds but are still able to act with the real world. That means they can interact with others on a very personal scale without truly being aware of it; think sleep-walking, only with far more cognitive action and far less haziness. Of course, in this trance, dragons are still aware of their actions, though to them they may think of it like a dream. All of this, coupled with their innate ability to just "keep going" at a pace that would drain the energy reserves of or even kill lesser creatures, means they can breed in such a state for far longer stretches than anything else; it's likely a survival mechanism, to be able to breed in this state during their much longer hibernation periods. Now, you being the only dragon of a suitable size, it was obvious that you would be chosen for this program."

Spike stared at Twilight for a few seconds. He was still trying to catch up with what Twilight had just said. "So... I have to go out and... breed a whole bunch of mares, just to protect Equestria's future?" Didn't sound too bad, though the child support would likely kill him...

"Spike, don't you see? You already did."

There; the feeling that Spike had felt gnawing at the back of his mind finally made itself known. How... how could he react to something like this? How could he... what? "What?" he asked. Wait... so is that why he was so muscular? He'd been gaining muscle mass in his "sleep" by breeding mares nonstop? Was that why he had had so many dreams where he was... intimate with a pony? That had to be the reason, nothing else made sense!

"You were used to help protect Equestria's future," Twilight said. "Or, more specifically, your dragon heritage was used to help protect it. I know "used" isn't a good word, but Spike, we are practically defenseless to a large-scale threat, and the only other alternative was cloning, and that would make more problems than it would solve. Every pony was carefully selected for this program, and every pony that was in it was a volunteer; there was no conscription or any form of a draft for this. Most mares want foals, Spike; they just didn't have the resources to mate with single stallions in their home towns. Besides, the kingdom's treasury more than allows for such a sudden population boom, and besides, we're ponies; herd mentality is in our nature."

"What?" He peered down; tucked under his scales, his dick still remained, hidden away from view. He was suddenly thankful it hadn't rubbed away to nothingness after all this... sleep-mating.

"Weren't you listening? I said, you-,"

"What?!"

"Spike, give me a chance to explain some more, you-,"

The door opened, and a familiar farm-pony walked in. "Hey, Twilight? Have y'all seen the twins? Ah can't seem ta find them, have they been in here with..."

"Applejack?" Spike asked, having turned mid-sentence. "Did you know about this?"

"Know about what, Spike?" the earth pony asked, suddenly very interested in an old knot in the wood floor. Why was she avoiding his gaze so suddenly?

"What Twilight was just telling me, about this program... wait a minute!" Spike said, pointing at the orange mare. "You knew about this as well?"

The farmer pony's normally orange pelt began to turn red. "Ah... Ah don't know what yer talkin' about, Spike. I just-,"

"Don't lie, Applejack; you're a terrible liar and we all know it," Spike said, crossing his arms. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

Her pelt turned a shade of red so dark it had already surpassed Big Macintosh's. "Y-Y-Yeah, I reckon' I did know about it." She nervously walked over by Twilight, hiding behind the purple alicorn as if she were a shield. "Now see here, Spike, I... I knew it'd be a hard thing ta save Equestria, so... we all had ta do what we had ta do."

"What does that even mean?" Spike asked, throwing his hands up in the air. "How many offsp-... foals do I have running around Ponyville not knowing I'm their father?"

"Plenty know you are their father Spikel it'd be kind of hard to hide the obvious facts from them. Just in Ponyville, for example, you have upwards of around... seventy five, I think?" Twilight said, her voice almost cracking at the number spilling from her lips. "There should be more on the way after the last breeding session a few months back, so-,"

"Seventy five?!" Spike roared, clutching his head between his hands. "I have seventy five foals running around? How am I supposed to provide for that many? How am I... wait a minute!" he said, rounding on the two of them with a very stunned look on his face, as if he were just beginning to understand his situation. "You said just in Ponyville, Twilight. What about the other towns and cities? What about them? How many foals in Equestria are mine?"

"Well, I don't know the exact number..." Twilight said sheepishly, rubbing her hooves in small circles on the floor. Yes, she had fallen out of her chair during Spike's outburst, and yes, Applejack was still hiding behind her, redder than a rose.

"Humor me," the dragon said with a deadpan expression.

"Well, taking into account the number of residences built to accommodate the population, plus the overall numbers of mares that were repeat customers-,"

"Repeat customers? What am I, the town bicycle? Has every mare in Equestria has ridden me?"

"Quit yer hollerin' and let her finish!" Applejack yelled, her embarrassment seeming to fade for a few seconds. "Please?" she added softly.

"-including the mares that came back every season, plus the average time it took for a breeding session, factoring in the multiple births and overall need for guards to prevent any unlicensed encounters... I'd have to say... several thousand? More than five, to be sure, but there are still so many pregnant mares from last season..."

Spike nearly fainted away right there, but through sheer force of will (and lots of shock), he managed to stay conscious. "Over... over five thousandfoals?" he asked softly, his voice nearly breaking. "What... what... why?"

"Spike, like ah said, we all needed to do our parts, and, well, you fit the bill," Applejack said softly. "Ah tell ya, it wasn't easy at first, raisin' those two little hellfires from tiny foals, but they're good colts, and ah love 'em dearly."

"Well, I... wait... wait a minute, raisin' hellfires? What do you mean by that?" Spike asked, and no sooner did the words leave his mouth than his eyes widened in realization. "You... you slept with me, Applejack?"

"Shucks, sugarcube, there weren't much sleepin' bein' done whenever I was in that cave with ya," the farmer pony said with a smile that could make a priest uncomfortably hot under the collar. "Buckwheat and Brambles, the two of 'em are called; their sister Juniper is a bit less temperamental, though she's gotta control her fire-breathin' a bit more; nearly burned down the barn twice so far."

"How... how could you mate with me, knowing I wasn't the one you actually were with? That I was in that... dragon trance?" Spike asked. "Was... was I any good?" He had to know; if he was a lousy lover, he'd never want to show his face again; maybe he should leave Equestria...

"Spike, you had the highest percentage of returning mares; I think I can safely say you were indeed a very popular choice," Twilight said, blushing slightly. "Especially with Applejack here; she'd try butting in line from time to time just to get at you."

"Spike, I care for ya deeply, I really do, but we gotta make sacrifices, and there wasn't another bein' in this kingdom that I'd rather have as the daddy o' my youngin's than yerself," Applejack replied. "Ah was against the idea at first, mostly 'cause ah'd want you ta be "all there" fer me, but we need this, Spike, for our kingdom's safety. Besides, ah'm the Element o' Honesty, not Chastity; I could barely keep my hooves ta myself when you finished yer first molt. Durin' yer sleep growth, y'all just got more and more handsome, and it was just impossible ta resist yer innate charm. You may not realize it, but yer mighty attractive fer a dragon, and that's as true compliment than anythin' else out there." She paused for a few moments. "Besides, there's still a few more years of this program left, and ah ain't done spittin out young'uns."

Her smirk would have either caused Granny Smith to suffer a heart attack or would have caused all adolescent colts to become stallions.

"O...kay," Spike said slowly, still feeling he'd have to go to therapy for all of this. That, and find himself a job that could afford to at least help with all these... foals of his. That, and possibly get a restraining order against Applejack. "Anypony else I know?"

"Well, there was Fluttershy..." Twilight said softly, magically putting the chair away since it was obvious she wouldn't need it anymore.

"Wait, Fluttershy did this too? Why did you say 'was'? Did she die?" Spike asked, panic entering his voice.

"No, no, Fluttershy's fine, she just... she only bred with y'all once," Applejack said. "Kind of an odd choice, if y'all ask me, but it was her decision, and we stood by it. She just, well, none of us really, were expectin' her ta have triplets, is all."

"Triplets?!" the dragon exclaimed, his heart briefly clenching in his chest. Seriously, how potent was he? Did he just have to look at a mare to get her pregnant?

"Yup; Stratosphere, Pin Oak and Aurora," Applejack said. "Cutest little pegasus foals ah ever did see."

"Please tell me Rarity didn't breed with me," Spike said. In another life, so it seemed, it would have been a dream come true, but here? It would just keep adding onto the confusion he was already experiencing.

"Well..." Twilight began.

"Oh no, she did, didn't she?" the dragon asked.

"Well, she did, but only twice," the purple alicorn said. "Still, each time, she gave birth to twins, so... yeah. Walter, Humphrey, Marie and Phillipe are their names. Other than those three, and Rainbow Dash, of course, neither myself nor Pinkie Pie-,"

"Wait, Rainbow Dash too? What the... this is ridiculous!" Spike said. "Did I have sex with a bucking tree too? Do I now have a half dragon... seedling out in the Everfree Forest, with my face sprouting from the trunk or something?"

"Hey now, yer gonna love little Typhoon, and no, y'all didn't buck a tree," Applejack said. "Typhoon's got yer dragon magic and his mother's spirit; he'll likely be in league ta become a Wonderbolt before he enters college, the little rascal."

Spike sat down, his head in his hands. He wasn't crying; more... exhausted, really. Having all of this new information dumped on him was really a lot to process. "Wait, when you said there was some stipulation with Queen Chrysalis... did it involve me?" he asked, peering at the two ponies between his fingers.

"Yep; she got you fer a whole week in yer cave," Applejack said. "Lucky bitch," she added under her breath.

"Did... did she also have a foal?" he asked. Dear Celestia, if she gave birth like regular hive insects and was now continuously pumping out little dragon-changelings...

"Yes Spike, she also had a foal; little Chromus is just dying to meet you," Twilight said. "That, and Minos."

"Who is Minos?" Spike asked.

"Oh, the son of you and the minotaur queen after we let her breed with you for a week, prompting her inclusion into an alliance treaty," Twilight said. "All of our neighboring countries signed in on the deal, and their royal ladies got have their... turns with you as part of the deal. The griffin princess couldn't marry due to religious reasons, but that didn't mean she couldn't help seal the deal with your help. I hear she had a clutch of seven eggs hatch."

Spike sat in silence for a few minutes. All of this... it was just so much to process, he had to handle it alone for the time being. Getting up, he started to walk past to two ponies, turning to look back at them before he entered his own, and now significantly smaller, room.

"When can I talk with princesses about all of this?" he asked. "I... I really need to speak with them, only... give me a few days. I just... I just need some time alone, all right?"

"Well, you see," Twilight began as Spike started to shut the door behind him. "They'll want to be talking to you as well; little Flare and Shadow have been asking for you, and-,"

The door burst back open.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

Off in the distance, Princesses Celestia and Luna heard something that sounded an awful lot like a dragon shouting in rage and disbelief.

"He's awake?" Luna asked.

"Yes, he is," Celestia said simply.

"Flare and Shadow will want to see him very soon," Luna replied as she took a sip from her tea.

"I think it'd be best for them to wait a little while longer," Celestia said, watching Luna rub her belly. "Still cramping during midday?"

"We don't know how you dealt with Flare so easily, sister; Shadow made us feel miserable."

"Well, second time shouldn't be so bad," the older alicorn said with a smile, rubbing her own swollen belly with a tender hoof.

"Sure," Luna snorted. "We think Spike will have a far harder time dealing with all of this than we will."


	2. But it Can Pay Off

Alone in his old room, Spike wanted to pace around his bed, but decided the floor couldn't handle his talons repeatedly pressing into the same spots. That, and he was clenching his fists every now and then, so he'd likely rake through the wooden floor with ease. He had already kicked Twilight out of the library, much to her displeasure, but what was she going to do against a potentially livid dragon? Put him in a timeout? Applejack had followed left on her own, muttering something about "looking fer the twins", and for only the second time that day, Spike was alone.

"What the buck," he moaned, rubbing his temples as he lay against his old covers. "Why... why did Twilight have to do this? Why me?" The fact he had been the unwitting father of a huge portion of Equestria's next generation bothered him greatly, but the biggest problem in his eyes was not that he had so many offspring, but that... he didn't know practically any of these mares! To think, all of the other stallions in this program were volunteers and likely had dozen of foals as well, but... none of them even came close to what he had been through!

Spike didn't think like normal dragons, who would have been bragging from Tartarus and back at how many offspring they had and how many females they had bedded. No, he was much closer to a pony in the way he thought, and even for him, the prospects of this were... terrifying, to say the least. He had over five thousand offspring; five thousand! It would have taken centuries of relationships to make maybe even one tenth that amount in the "regular" way. Not to mention there were several with royal parents; the minotaur queen, the griffin princess, Luna and Celestia, Chrysalis...

"This... this is too much," Spike muttered, rolling over and burying his face in his pillow. He wanted nothing more than to just go back to sleep, but then there was the danger he would breed even more mares in that state, as he was still technically bound by a contract he had signed during his "sleep". He didn't want any more of this, but... he really didn't want to leave. Ponyville was his home, and no matter how horrendous a crime had been done to him, he didn't want to leave. Nor did he feel like going on a rampage; that would absolutely solve nothing and lead only to more problems. Suicide was by far the farthest thing from his mind, too; what kind of a coward would kill himself with that many children out there possibly in need of his guidance and love? No, he had to think long and hard on this; there had to be something he could do, something so outrageous that it could sort of make up for all this injustice...

"Wait a minute," he muttered, glancing over at the book he had written. In it was everything the dragon from Luna's time had told him; everything he needed to know about being a dragon. Their role as a species, their powers, their habits, history, diet, weaknesses, strengths, biology, evolution... it was all there. Perhaps in the book he could find the answers he sought.

Trudging over and gingerly lifting up the massive book, which must have weighed as much as a small carriage, he walked back over to his bed and set it down. Opening the first page, he began to read.

* * *

Several hours later, Twilight tentatively opened the door to the library, peering inside as she did so. She had left after Spike kicked her out, mostly to avoid him, but also to give herself time to think.

"Spike is never going to forgive me for this," she muttered, slowly closing the door behind her. "I know what we... what I did was wrong, and there's certainly a place in Tartarus reserved for me because of it, but... when Luna told me of what could be on the horizon, I just...-"

"Just what, Twilight?" a voice said, and the purple alicorn did three flips before landing on her hooves once more.

"Spike! You're... you're still here?" she asked.

"Of course; why would I be gone?" he replied. No emotion was in his voice; no warmth, no chill, no hatred or love or even confusion. It... it sounded rather scary, for him to sound so calm, especially after what he had been told.

"I... I thought you'd have left, never to return, after... after what we did to you," she said quietly, wishing she could just walk back outside. His gaze seemed to pierce past her eyes and look right into her brain, as if he were reading her thoughts.

"Why would I leave the only home I've ever known?" the dragon asked simply.

"Well... what we did... we thought... we thought it was necessary, but so unforgivable, that-,"

"Twilight, whether or not I forgive you is my decision alone; nopony else has a say in how I live my life and how I react to such... information," Spike said. "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. I am strong, Twilight; I can forgive you and everypony else for what you all have done. The only question is, can you forgive yourself?"

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Spike cut her off.

"In your own time, Twilight. Right now, I have a lot of things to say, and I'm not going to repeat myself. Take notes if you wish."

Twilight slowly summoned a quill, a large bottle of ink, and several large, blank scrolls. Gulping, she nodded and dipped the quill into the ink.

"First things first, I hereby declare that I will continue with this "program" of yours, if only for the common good of all of Equestria," Spike began.

"But... why would you do that?" Twilight asked. "What we did was criminal!"

"Yes, it was," the dragon replied. "Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim; letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor. I have survived this experience, Twilight; only you can pay penitence for these crimes. I have no reason to hate you other than you made a poor decision; a very poor decision, perhaps, but it was yours to make in letting me, without full or completely coherent knowledge, sign that contract, and even though I am obligated to fulfill said contract, rest assured I will not forget what has happened to me."

"Oh... okay," the alicorn said softly, resuming her note-taking.

"Secondly, as stated in the Book of Dragons, all offspring of my descent shall know their heritage," Spike said. "I will not have any of my offspring running around, scared and angry at the world because they do not know how to control their dragon half, nor will I have them using it with a devious purpose in mind. They are my offspring, and until they are old enough to make decision for themselves, I will have a say in their lives, regardless of what the mother may think. Every month a portion of my children will gather with me and I shall teach them the ways of my kind; think of it as a summer camp for dragon hybrids."

"Why can't the mother have a say?" Twilight asked softly.

"Because I didn't have a full say when you used me as a personal buck-toy for many hundreds of mares," Spike said, a hint of icy anger hissing briefly from his lips. "They could have said no, but they instead chose to use me as some mass-impregnation machine. Which brings up a point: why didn't you ask me first?"

"W-well, you w-were asleep and we couldn't wake you unless we warped y-your biological clock, and... there were other problems," Twilight said slowly.

"Such as?"

"Well... we can't clone dragon sperm, for one, or else we wouldn't have even needed you for the program," the alicorn said. "Dragon sperm is so highly developed, magically-speaking, that to try and clone it with other magic is simply impossible. Not even science can clone dragon sperm, and trust me, I tried many times. It's like trying to un-bake a MMM cake, only far more volatile and potentially far more disastrous with every try. Plus, there was the whole method of... gathering samples..."

"What do you mean?" Spike asked.

"Dragons just don't go spilling their seed all willy-nilly Spike; it is far too potent and precious to just be wasted on something like masturbation," Twilight said. "P-Plus, it doesn't keep well on its own for very long; maybe a few days, and with every passing day, it degrades so rapidly that it becomes nothing more than useless goo. No refrigeration can keep it contained; dragon semen is laced with the same genetics that allow for dragons to withstand all sorts of different temperatures, so trying to freeze it was pointless. I even tried freezing it at near absolute zero, which actually worked, except upon thawing it was useless again, what with being degraded by those cold of temperatures."

"Which was why you needed mares to rape me non-stop for several years," the dragon said softly.

"Yes, and I know I'm going to sound even worse for saying this, Spike, but... there really was no other solution to this problem. I met with Luna and Celestia after the decree, and they told me of such decrees in the past. It happened not long after Discord's fall, and then several hundred years later, after the great Hydra Invasion. They both knew it was a terrible thing, a crime against the rights of all, and I tried telling them there must have been another way, but then... they showed me the future."

"They what?" Spike asked.

"Combining their magic, they showed me what could happen if such a program was not put in place," Twilight said. "The deal with Chrysalis getting you for a week as part of a peace settlement process? That wouldn't have happened, and sooner than later, she would have attacked us again, only this time, it would have been far more devastating. The only reason the nagas to the far south haven't been raiding this far north is because of the minotaur queen's prestige, and that would be useless to us if she hadn't signed the alliance treaty. I saw countless other horrors; the Gates of Tartarus opening, demons laying waste to our kingdom, the moon and sun hovering in the sky as Celestia and Luna lay dying under the might of some fallen god... I was scared, Spike. I was scared what the future could bring, and so I made a decision."

"To use me," he said simply. "To use me for a plan for a future that may or may have happened."

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, Spike," Twilight said softly, a tear rolling down her cheek. "What we did was wrong, but we had to do it, for if we did nothing, what then? Would we hold onto our pride and pat ourselves on the back, saying the cost would have been too great, even if the world was reduced to ash because of our inaction? Would we have still stood by our morals and decisions when the whole world would just come crumbling down around us? Or would we have taken that chance, taken the chance that maybe, just maybe, by destroying a bit of ourselves, we could save everypony else? That we could sacrifice a few, so that all could be saved?"

Spike was silent. "Twilight... stop. Just stop; you don't need to preach to me about what could have been or what might not have been."

"But... but why? You hate me, I hate me, everypony should hate me for what I let our kingdom do to you!" Twilight cried out, tears gushing from her eyes. "You have every right a pony does, and we violated those rights! We are monsters, we in power; we decide what is best, even if it goes against everything we've ever stood for! We-,"

Smack

Twilight reeled back, stunned as she held up a hoof to her cheek. "You... you slapped me," she said, shock driving away her tears.

"Bitch, you needed a slap," Spike said, walking up to her. "Twilight, I don't need this right now; no matter what you did to me, no matter how terrible it was, you did what you thought was right. Was it? I don't know or really care; who am I to judge anypony but myself? It is so easy to judge others when you've never been in their place or faced the choices they have. I don't need some self-loathing, morally-ruined crypony right now; I need my best friend Twilight Sparkle, the nerdy little librarian unicorn that became an alicorn princess. Get it together, Twi." Then, in a flash, he pulled her into a hug. At first, the pony struggled against his grip, but soon enough, she went slack, simply sobbing into his scaly chest.

"Spike, I... the others, and I... we knew... we knew it was wrong... we knew, but... we couldn't bring ourselves to admit it. We are terrible, terrible ponies, the lot of us; we... we've been hiding our pain, tucking it away, trying to deny it's not there. Only... it's there, it'll always be there, the pain... the knowledge of what I... what we've done. I'm... I'm sorry."

"I know, but telling me that won't change the past," Spike said, gently setting her down. "All we can do is hope for a better future. Now... where was I?"

"About... about your foals?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, of course," Spike said. "Now, about child support..."

* * *

"So... we're cool?" Rainbow Dash asked, partially hiding behind a small cloud. All of the Elements of Harmony had gathered in the Canterlot palace, along with both Princess Luna and Celestia.

"Yes, we're cool," Spike said to the cowering pegasus.

"We owe you an apology greater than any of us can afford, Spike," Luna said softly. "We-,"

"No, you don't," Spike said simply. "What you need to do is help me make this right, or at least as right as it can be in this bucked-up world I've woken up in. Personally I'm still hoping it's just a dream, but we all know that's not the case, is it?"

"Then... what wouldja have us do, Spike?" Applejack asked softly, hiding behind her hat. Rarity was hiding behind her, and Pinkie Pie was hiding behind her as well. A conga line of fear, you could say.

"I am going to need the names of every female I've been with in that cave," the dragon said simply. "Also, we may need to clean that cave, I have no idea if you've ever cleaned it while I was asleep."

"Yes, it was cleaned after every... session," Rarity whispered, not daring to look Spike in the eye.

"Okay then, now that that issue is out of the way, back to the main point; I want names, addresses, races, everything; I want to know every female I've been with, down to where they were born and their favorite color," Spike said, his voice calm but very commanding. "I also want to know the names and faces of each of my offspring; names, locations, how much like me they are, etc. I don't want a single foal with my blood in their veins not knowing their father."

Celestia nodded slowly; she had expected as much, though Spike was handling the situation far better than she had feared. "Any resource you will require will be given to you, Spike," she said.

"Damn straight," he replied. "Now, about child support; seeing as I am a dragon, I am not only technically not married to these mares by pony standards, but they are my mates, as per the dragon code. This means none of them can carry on with others without my permission, understand?"

"Some of us wouldn't dream of it," Rarity whispered to Applejack, who slowly nodded in agreement.

"By default as well, all property of my mates is mine as well, as pertaining to Dragon Law. This means I now technically have an invested interest in Equestria, the Changeling Nation, the Minotaur Kingdom and the Griffin Empire. As such, I will receive a small payment from each nation amounting to no more than ten percent of their GDP, in order to care for my thousands of offspring. I will also need a very large home in which to stay, preferably somewhere large enough to take care of any of my offspring, should something befall their mother," Spike said simply. "Harsh, yes, but only fair, and accidents do happen; none of my children will be put in an orphanage of any kind, understand?"

"Yes, Spike," Twilight said softly, looking at the floor to avoid his gaze. He was rapidly becoming the most powerful figure in all the world, and all because they needed him to get a whole bunch of mares knocked up. They really should have thought this through.

"Any questions?" the dragon asked. Funny, how he went from mass-rape victim to ordering around the leaders of a kingdom in a mere few hours, with more power well on the way. Strange, how even the most bucked-up events in his life could somehow lead to something halfway-decent.

"What about the buffalo?" Twilight asked.

"What about them?"

"Well, you didn't breed with any of them, but they are technically citizens of Equestria, and the chief's daughter has expressed some interest in... meeting you, and-,"

"I will handle that on my own time," Spike said. "Anything else?"

"Well, for your mating census... we kind of already did that," Rainbow Dash said.

"You did? When?" Spike asked, surprised.

"Well, since it is an official program, every volunteer had to be sized up and matched with a suitable partner, as well as given complete medical exams and other tests," Celestia said simply. "Every participant has been officially recorded, down to the last time they were mated and how early they showed signs of pregnancy. It's all in the new Canterlot Census Archives."

"That's... not what I meant, Princess Celestia," Rainbow Dash said, sliding a bit further behind her cloud to mask her blush. "I meant the... other records."

"Oh," Celestia said. "Yes, well, I'm sure Spike will be very interested in those."

"Hello, I'm right here," the dragon said. "What are these "other records", by chance?"

"Well... to document your success, many of your early... mating sessions were videotaped," Twilight said softly. "It... it was kind of a hard selling point at first to get mares to breed with a dragon, but after a while... they just kind of started coming back in droves. Word got out how good you were, Spike."

"Good? How good? Wasn't I asleep?" the dragon asked, now more curious than furious that he had been taped rutting mares. If ruling didn't work out, he could always become a porn star, it seemed.

"Good enough that you were given several awards by several academies for helping them better learn dragon physiology," Luna said. "That, and many, many mares gave glowing testimonials in several prestigious magazines."

Spike blinked; here he had all this work for them planned to at least try and start making up for all the shit they had just put him through these past five years, and... there was this?

"The buck?" he whispered. "Okay, Twilight, you are going to help me personally go through each and every bit of records to help compile my list; understand?"

"Yes, o-of course," the alicorn princess muttered.

Spike turned to Fluttershy, who had been quiet this whole time. "Fluttershy, I'd like to see my... our foals now, if you would be so kind."

Surprisingly, Fluttershy didn't tremble in fear, but gave an almost happy squeaking noise as she flew off to gather her foals.

"I thought we were going to go through all the records?" Twilight asked.

"We are; in time," Spike said simply. "Right now, I want to meet my foals; Dash, Rarity, Applejack, please bring our foals in with Fluttershy's. Oh, and princesses? I'd like to meet ours as well."

As the aforementioned ponies walked off to find their foals, Pinkie Pie sat, staring at Spike with a curious expression. "Does this mean the "Spike woke back up party" is canceled?" she asked.

"No, just... postponed," the dragon said. "Besides, it wouldn't be a party without my family being there, now would it?"

Spike knew from then on his life was never going to be the same.


	3. Sometimes it's Easy

Thirteen young colts and fillies stared up in awe at the sight before them. They had only heard stories of the dragon that had sired them, but they had never seen him in the flesh before. Visiting the cave had been off-limits to all young ponies, mostly due to the fact that the cave itself had some labyrinthine tunnels within and the youngsters could easily get lost.

"Hello," Spike said, looking over what happened to be a very, very small portion of all of his offspring. Applejack's foals; Buckwheat, Brambles and Juniper. Rarity's foals: Walter, Humphrey, Marie and Phillipe. Fluttershy's own set as well; Stratosphere, Pin Oak and Aurora. Little Typhoon, Rainbow Dash's colt, kept flapping his wings, itching to fly, but his father's gaze kept him grounded for the time being. Young Shadow and Flare, completely serene and regal without appearing to even try; just like their mothers.

"Hi daddy," they all said in unison, Aurora trailing behind a little bit in her greeting since she was hiding behind her brother and sister. She was practically Fluttershy in miniature, save for the small spines down her back and the tiny fangs poking out from behind her lips. Flare and Shadow were silent, content with simply staring at their father; they too were nearly mirror images of their respective mothers. In fact, most of them were, with a few more obvious signs here and there that they were his children. Some had scales on legs, others had hands instead of hooves and several had dragon-like tails.

"Do you know why you're here?" the larger dragon asked, a small piece of his heart aching at the fact they had called him "daddy". He'd have never thought he'd hear those words in a very long time, if at all, and yet they were tainted by the knowledge that these foals of his were the product of lies and rights violations.

He refused to care about that last part.

"Well, momma said we'd be meetin' ya fer the first time-," Buckwheat said slowly.

"And she's bin wantin' us ta meet ya fer what seems like forever-," Brambles continued.

"But she told us she was scared of yer reaction, so she hid us away fer a few hours before y'all brought us to the palace," Juniper said, finishing her brothers statements. "Why would she be scared of our reaction?"

"Children, do you know the difference between good and bad?" Spike asked.

"Yes sir," they replied at the same time.

"Please, don't call me sir; my name is Spike," the dragon said, gently pinching the bridge of his nose. Okay, this might be easier and yet harder than he had thought. He didn't want to crush their spirits and possibly scar them from such a young age with knowledge of what their mothers did, but... they had to know a few things; important things that only their father seemed capable of telling them.

"Okay dad," Typhoon said, his squeaky little voice nearly giving Spike diabetes.

"Children, what do you think of when somepony does something bad?"

"Like eat all the cookies?" Humphrey asked.

"I knew it was you!" Walter shouted.

"Yes, Humphrey, like that," Spike said, hoping these two didn't fight all the time. "Can you think of anything else?"

"When some ponies just want to watch the world burn?" Phillipe asked, his eyes going out-of-focus for a split second as he spoke.

Spike stared at the young unicorn for a few seconds. "...sure," he said. "No, I was thinking about other things, like when somepony is mean to you or does something mean."

"Ohhh," the little foals said in unison.

"Why?" Pin Oak asked. "Did somepony do something mean to you?"

"Yes." Understatement of the century right there. "Some ponies did some very mean things to me."

"Are they in trouble? I don't like it when others get in trouble, it makes me sad," Marie said softly, curling her little dragon tail around her body like a blanket. Come to think of it, she was probably still young enough to have one.

"You could say they are in lots of trouble," the dragon said softly.

"Is it our moms? It is, isn't it?" Stratosphere asked, clearly one of the more developed of the group. That, or he could really connect the dots in a conversation.

"Yes, Stratosphere; they all did something very mean to me several years ago," the dragon said. "They weren't the only ones, either, but they were my best friends."

"Are they going to jail?" Aurora asked, peeking out from behind her siblings. "Is momma gonna got to jail?"

Several of the foals started tearing up at that question.

"No, no, Aurora, none of them are going to jail," Spike said softly, feeling an overwhelming urge to cuddle and coddle these little foals. Male dragons, as it turned out, were nearly as protective of their offspring as a female was, so if the situation was reversed, and Spike was the mother of each and every one of these foals, then (s)he'd likely spirit them away from all of this. But Spike couldn't; he was a male dragon, and as much as he may have wished that none of this had happened, he couldn't care for thirteen young foals like they needed to be. He just wasn't built for the task, both physically and mentally. In time, he would be able to care for them as a father should but for right now, they didn't need an authoritative figure; they needed their daddy. "They just made mistakes was all."

"But... they didn't mean it, right?" Aurora asked, slowly walking up to Spike and looking him right in the eyes. "They didn't meant to hurt you, did they?"

"They didn't mean to, but they didn't not mean to," the dragon said, gingerly pulling the little filly in for a hug. As a group, the dozen other foals slowly walked over and cuddled against their father. "They didn't ask me if I was okay with what they were doing. What they did was bad, yes, and I forgave them all for it, but it's something they will be living with for the rest of their lives."

"Why didn't they ask you? What didn't they ask you?" Juniper asked softly.

"They didn't ask me if they wanted to start a family," Spike said softly, breathing in the scent of his children. Each of them had a unique smell, and as a dragon, once imprinted in his memory, he would always know them by smell. Highly developed olfactory senses, as Twilight would say. "They didn't ask me if I wanted foals."

"But... you did, right?" Pin Oak asked. "You... you did want a family, right?"

Telling them right now that Spike had not wanted a family so soon would destroy them; telling them they were the spawn of some rape-enabling program designed to save the country and that Spike had not even been there to see them born... it broke his heart to even consider telling them the truth.

No, they would not know; not today, not tomorrow, not for a great many years. In time, they would know the whole truth, hopefully when they were old enough to make their own decisions in life and be their own selves, but for now, at this tender, trusting age, they didn't need that. They needed a false lie; something to make them feel better.

"I did; I did want a family," Spike said, nuzzling the top of Pin Oak's mane, earning a cute little giggle from her. "I just... I just hadn't expected to be blessed with one so soon was all."

"But... what our moms did was bad, and I thought all ponies who do bad are bad," Walter said.

"Not all ponies who do bad are bad ponies, Walter," the dragon said, already thinking that "Wally" was a much better nickname for him. "Ponies make mistakes; we all do. You just have to forgive yourself and others if you are going to be free from your choices."

"We were mistakes?" Marie asked quietly.

Right in the feels.

"No, no, of course not," Spike said, his tone dropping several octaves to a soothing, smooth whisper. "You thirteen are my treasures; you are the farthest things from mistakes. I just wish I had known you all when you were younger; I wish I could have been there when you were born."

"Why weren't you?" Buckwheat asked. "Ma said you were off somewhere, doin' sun dragon stuff."

"She's right; I was off, doing dragon things," Spike said. "Dragons can sleep for very long naps, and we grow during those naps. I was growing these last five years; before I went to sleep, I was just a hair taller than your moms."

"Now yer bigger," Brambles said with a small giggle. "Alot bigger; yer even bigger than Uncle Mac!"

"Dad," Flare said, speaking for the first time. "Do you love our moms?"

"Of course I love them," Spike said with a sigh. "I still love them, even if they did bad things to me. I'll always love them, because they're family; you always love family, and you always look out for them."

"But why?" Shadow asked. "Why do you love them after they did bad things to you?"

"Because I forgave them," the dragon said simply. "Loving and forgiving go hoof in hoof; it's not easy. It's never easy to forgive, children, but I forgave your mothers for everything. They just need some time to forgive themselves and think about what they've done."

"So... they're on a timeout?" Typhoon asked.

"You could say that," Spike said. Off in the distance, a bell rang. "Okay kids, go find your moms, and send back in Auntie Twilight. I need to talk with her about some things."

"Okay dad," they all said in some form or another. With tons of hugs and a few nuzzles from his daughters, Spike watched the thirteen of them either trot or fly off. After they disappeared around a corner, Spike saw Twilight emerge from around the corner and slowly walk over to him.

"So?" she asked as Spike rose to his feet.

"They are incredible," Spike said softly. "I just... I just wished they weren't born into the same world they live in. I should have been there: I should have been a willing participant in their creation."

Twilight flinched slightly; he was never going to let go of that point, and she was hoping he never would. "Did... did you tell them?" she asked softly.

"Of course not; they are not privy to the same sorts of surprises I was so recently subject to," Spike said. "Now, I'm still going to be needing to visit all of my other children, which means I'll be moving around the country a lot. Tell me, where are the largest groups of my children located?"

"Well, outside of Ponyville, only several major cities have fairly high concentrations," the purple alicorn said. "Manehattan, Los Pegasus, Baltimare... places like that. After that, most of your foals are scattered across the country, with many of them living in rural areas. You were a big hit with the Apple family's relatives, after all."

"Great, I was banged by Applejack and all of her cousins," Spike said, partially enjoying the sight of Twilight squirming at his words. "Which reminds me, you said dragons are immune to the effects of inbreeding, correct?"

"Y-Yes, I said that, though I don't see-,"

"Purebred dragons are immune, but I'm willing to be hybrids and those greater removed from their original ancestor are not. This means that after the names of each and every one of my offspring are known and every little one is accounted for, there will have to be a registry put up in order to prevent them from interbreeding. I have no idea just what sorts of trait they could inherit from their mothers should they chose to give me an even larger family in the years to come, but I will not have them dating their own flesh and blood." Spike didn't like the fact that dragons were immune to inbreeding; this meant somewhere in the deep past, the ancestors of dragons were likely boning every relative they had, a thought that made him feel rather ill.

"A-Anything else?" Twilight asked.

"Yes," the dragon replied. "I will want to see some of my other children tomorrow, after I get a good night's sleep and mull over the events of today. At the top of the list, I wish to meet my son, Minos, and soon after that, the griffin princess."

"Well, the journey to the lands of the minotaurs may take several days and the griffins longer, even if you could fly, and from what I've heard, those children attending school for the first time," the purple alicorn said slowly.

"Attending school? Aren't they near the same age as all of my other children?" Spike asked, slightly confused.

"Yes, well, hybrids age in appearance slightly faster than purebred counterparts, Spike, though only for the first few years. After this initial period, they have the same appearance and mental faculties of one about two years older than them, so think of it as them being chronologically around five or so years old, but being mentally and physically seven or so."

"So, in a few years..."

"Yes, the school systems of Equestria will be absolutely flooded with new students. Don't worry, I knew that would happen and took extreme precautions for it. Still, building new schools was harder than we thought, seeing all of the ones that will be educating your foals have to be retrofitted to be at best "mostly" fire-proof."

"Ah, good," Spike said, taking a step towards Twilight. "Then I will depart for the Badlands as soon as possible next morning."

"The Badlands? Why would you want to go there?" Twilight asked.

"To visit my son, Chromus," the dragon said simply. "Also, I'll be needing to talk to Chrysalis about all of this; surely she will be very interested to know about dragon property claims and such."

"I'm not sure she'll be exactly happy to hear that," the alicorn said.

"I said interested, not delighted," Spike said. "Now, come with me to the archives. We have some videos to watch."

"Of your matings?" Twilight asked. "Do I have to be there for that?"

"I wasn't "all there" during the videos, so yes, you have to be there when we watch them," Spike said, crossing his arms. "I'm sure you can handle several hours of watching hardcore, dragon-on-pony mating, right?"

"S-S-Sure, of c-course," Twilight muttered, her blush deepening the color of her pelt to near black.

As the two of them walked off, Spike glanced over at Twilight, a thought entering his head. "_She's still a virgin, I bet_."


	4. Sometimes it's Hard

The Badlands weren't actually all that bad: just a barren, lifeless area with the only real source of life coming from the multi-story hive built out of processed rock and dried changeling spit. The life in question was a whole bunch of changelings flittering around, going about increasing the overall size of the hive mound and building numerous smaller buildings surrounding it.

The fact that Twilight was even able to still keep her breakfast down was a testament to the strength of her will and stomach. All of last night, and even some of this early morning, she had been watching hour after hour of Spike's mating sessions with him. Spike, on the one hoof, hadn't been aroused at all, though the fact that he was constantly muttering something about "rape, rape, rape, double rape," must have had something to do with it. Twilight hadn't been aroused either, though it was more do to the fact that she had had to sit through so many hours, and hours, and hours of watching Spike rut some mare in his sleep. Funny enough, he had been on top in almost every encounter; bad side was, as he constantly pointed out, he'd have like to been actually awake for each encounter.

After watching so much, she had grown more uncomfortable that what she had thought possible.

"_Yeehaw! Ride 'em cowpony! Grind it in there nice 'n deep-like..."_

"_I wub you, you wub me... wubz everywhere!"_

"_I am so turned on right now. You are so rock hard. Boulder, please escort the camera crew away while I taste this cock."_

"_Meep! P-P-Please, g-go f-faster, I'm such a d-d-dirty m-m-mare..."_

"_Huzzah! The cum has been doubled!"_

"_To buck with the rhyme, give me more time! I can't leave now, he makes me so... ow!"_

"_Praise my sun! PRAISE IT DAMN YOU! Praise it like you own it! YES!"_

"_A lady shouldn't speak like this, but... deeper! Deeper! I SAID DEEPER!"_

"_This is 20 percent cooler than I thought it would be!"_

"_Now this is a show! The Great and Powerful... aw, buck it! Plow me into the ground you damned dirty dragon you!"_

"_It is sad zat I haff to share zis glorious cock with anypony else. Might I take some more pictures? I need zem for my collage! By ze way, Miss Derpy, do you think you could hold ze light up a little higher? I vish to accentuate ze color of his scales against mein mane."_

"_This bucking has been just perfect... the kind of bucking that I always wished for..."_

"_Rarity was right! This DOES beat making dresses. I'm so glad Suri isn't here..."_

"_Standing at attention already, I see? Well, don't think that just because you're a rookie I'm going to take it easy on you!"_

"_Oh my... I think I'm ill, Doctor Drake. I'm going to need a full examination before I feel better. Oh, that is an awfully big needle..."_

"_Moo!" (Twilight didn't even know why Sapphire Shores acted like a cow that day, nor why she was dressed like one.)_

"_Why was Vinyl here before me? I specifically asked that we share in this moment together! I'm going to write a ballad about this... after I'm done, of course."_

_"Oh my... that's an awfully big carrot. It'd be a shame if somepony just... gobbled it all up..."_

"_Aloe? Aloe? Please move over, it's my turn. No, you can't have one more round, you've nearly passed out twice already; there are paramedics waiting outside because of you."_

"_Now that my days of adventuring are done... all right! Round two! Plunder my hidden temple, you great big beast!"_

"_Flitter! FLITTER! Stop hogging him, it's my turn!"_

"_Sacre bleu! This is the best anniversary gift ever! I am so happy my husband and I have a cuckold fetish."_

This same thing continued over, and over, and over; so many mares, so much sex. Twilight only really remembered the ones from ponies she'd met before, though the fact that her mother of all ponies had visited her on one of the days she had set up the cameras and had made off-hoofed comments on how Spike reminded Twilight of her father at that age...

She could still remember the nightmares: her dad plowing into her mom, her walking in, and then her dad's face becoming Spike's...

"Trouble sleeping?" Spike asked, knocking Twilight out of her little dreamland.

"Sort of," Twilight said, shaking her head. "What about you?"

"Twilight, I've more or less been asleep for five years, a period of my life that coincided with me getting repeatedly raped for about... four of those years. Last night felt like a light nap, but yes, I'm more or less fine," the dragon said as the two of them came up to the palace entrance. Strange, how none of the changelings had seemed to care that they had been wandering through the small town around the spire, but the instant thy came up the steps, no less than fifteen guards stepped forward.

"State your name and business," one said, his helmet signifying him to be a captain of some sort.

"I am Spike, here to see my son Prince Chromus, and his mother, Queen Chrysalis."

"Who is this with you?" the guard asked.

"This is Twilight Sparkle; she will stay outside of the palace, but if something happens to her, I will eat your face," Spike said, letting his wicked-sharp teeth show in a toothy snarl. "Understand?"

All fifteen guards gulped at the same time, as did Twilight. She'd never heard Spike make a threat like that before. Parting, the guards opened the door for the dragon, who without another word, walked inside like he owned the place.

As the doors shut behind him, Spike let his gaze drift over the room. It was a rather large place, similar to that of Canterlot's castle, only... far more organic. The stone was fluidly curved and arched under, over and around what looked to be massive, polished crystals. "Must be imports from the Crystal Empire," he muttered.

"Indeed," a voice said, and out of one of the shadows, stepped forth Queen Chrysalis, resplendent in all her insect-pony glory. "A very astute observation, dragon; it would seem that your time of hibernation reached its end not long ago. What brings you to my kingdom?"

"I'm here to speak with you on some very pressing matters," Spike said. "One of them being, I wish to see my son, Chromus."

"Oh, him," the queen said, rolling her eyes. "He's in his room. Why would he want to see you?"

"Because I am his father, and if I do not get to see him, I will be very angry," the dragon said simply, stepping closer to the queen. "You wouldn't like me if I got angry."

"Ugh, fine; follow me," the queen said, swishing her tail past his face as she walked off. Quickly catching up to her, Spike looked around; there were practically no sources of light in this place, save for some glowing crystals and small torches filled with green, flickering flames. "So, why do you want to see him?"

"He's my son, and as such I have a very vested interest in his future," Spike growled. "Why do you talk about him with such... displeasure?"

"I had hoped for a daughter, dragon," Chrysalis said simply with a small sneer. "Males of the upper caste are relegated to simple breeding stock for the queen, and as such have little to no rights in our society. Funny, how a lowborn male changeling has far more rights than a high-born; my son will be lucky if he-,"

The queen stopped mid-sentence, her voice cut off as a scaly hand wrapped around her throat. Standing up on his hind legs and pulling the struggling queen to his level, Spike growled.

"He is my son as much as he is yours," the dragon whispered, a slithering hiss that was reminiscent of steam pour off of hot coals. Chrysalis briefly tried to summon her magic, but Spike's other hand pinched the tip, rendering her unable to concentrate. After all, magic users can't use their magic if their horn is obstructed in some way. "I will not have you treat him like some slave! I've already learned what it is like to be used, to be basically told your feelings don't count for anything, that you're nothing more than a toy, a puppet to be cast aside should there be no more need for you. He will not share my fate, not as a foal, not as an adult, not ever! Do you understand me, queen?"

"Y-Y-Yes," the changeling choked out, a strange emotion flickering in her eyes. It was neither fear, nor anger, nor even resignation at Spike's sudden power; it was something far more personal. Something she had never shared with anypony before, because she had never felt it with or for any pony before.

Respect; and some other, much more personal emotion that Spike couldn't quite decipher.

Dropping the queen back onto the floor, Spike turned and found a small door. "Is this his room?" he asked simply.

"Y-Y-Yes," Chrysalis choked out, slowly rising to her hooves.

"You, stay out here," the dragon said. "I'm going to talk with him."

"But I-,"

"I said stay!" Spike barked, and like an obedient puppy, Chrysalis quickly sat down.

Closing the door behind him, Spike found himself in a rather small, dimly lit room. It reminded him of his own, only this room had a small balcony that let in fresh air. Of course, the fact that it was covered with large iron bars made it look not like a balcony, but a bird cage.

"Hello? Who is there?" a small voice called out, and Spike saw, sitting in the corner, a small huddled mass of black pelt and purple scales.

"Chromus?" Spike asked softly.

"H-How do you know my name?" the little colt asked, his reptilian eyes and wings a far departure from his changeling-like hooves. He was so cute and helpless that Spike felt a pain in his heart, knowing this sweet-looking colt had to live in what amounted to a prison made of stone, iron and changeling loogies.

"I am your father," the dragon said, kneeling down beside the huddled colt. He looked so thin for being so young; was he being fed at all? "I came to see you."

"F-F-Father?" Chromus asked softly, looking him in the eyes. "M-M-Mother never said you w-were a d-dragon. S-She always just said I c-came out wrong; that I was a freak."

Okay, Chrysalis needed a _serious _ass-kicking.

"No, son, you're not a freak, but you are different," Spike said softly, stroking his son's cheek with his thumb. "Everypony is different; it's what makes us special. You're special; very special, especially to me. Your mother... she just doesn't see that yet. We'll help her see, in time. For now... just give me a hug; a hug from your dad is long overdue."

Letting out a soft cry, Chromus reached out and pulled his father into a tight, tight hug. Spike returned it, happily, though the fact that he could practically feel his son's bones underneath his pelt confirmed his fears. Chrysalis was neglecting the poor colt, but as much as he suddenly wished it, he couldn't just take him away from his mother. Gain one parent, lose another; a terrible memory for one so young, no matter how rotten his mother was. Spike could already tell he would have to devote more time to making sure Chromus grew up right than he would with his other children. All of his friends and family knew how to be good parents; Chrysalis obviously had had a terrible mother, and as such had been morphed into one just as cruel and wicked.

But ponies can change, and maybe, just maybe, with enough love from both son and mate, the icy heart of Chrysalis could melt. Anything was possible with time and a whole lot of love. So, after what could have been an hour of sitting there and idling chit-chatting in the midst of a hug, Spike said goodbye to his son, with a promise that he would visit as much as he could and that, perhaps, in time, have Chromus visit him in Ponyville.

The first thing he did was break the bars from his son's balcony, destroying the cage that kept his son in the dark. Now, perhaps, his son could see the moon, the sun and the stars, without bars obscuring their beauty.

Emerging from his son's room, Spike found Chrysalis sitting right where he had left her. He didn't even make a sound; he simply pounced, clamping his hand over her mouth before she could cry out.

"As part of Dragon Law, your kingdom is partially under my power, and as such, there's going to be a few rules changes around here, okay? My son will be treated with the respect he deserves, and will be treated like a real, living being," the dragon growled. "He is to be fed as well as you or any other changelings are, and I will be coming to visit him as much as I can. If I find one shred of evidence that his condition has not improved, I swear, by all the stars in the sky, I will make you wish I hadn't woken up. Understand?"

Chrysalis nodded fervently, that same odd emotion flickering in her eyes. Then, Spike felt it; her rear legs wrapping around his waist.

"What the-," he said, removing his hand from the changeling's mouth, his anger and threats vanishing in the midst of his confusion.

"Oh, you powerful dragon, you have no idea how much I've been waiting for somepony to talk to me like that," Chrysalis replied, flashing a deliciously devilish grin to show off her fangs. "Power is intoxicating, and for you to have so suddenly, so utterly dominated me, without a single thought for your own safety, all for yo- our son's well-being... My my my, that's just... delicious."

"You're a crazy bitch," Spike said.

"Mmm, I love it when you talk dirty to me," the queen said, grinding herself against him. "Come on, dominate mean, demean me, humiliate me; make me yours! Claim me as none have ever before, like in your cave, only rougher, harder, more violent! Do it, do it, give it to me!" She had an insane look in her eyes, a wild and feral look that, while somewhat disturbing, was also quite... alluring.

Spike pried the crazy changeling's legs off of him and threw her back onto the floor, where she moaned in satisfaction at his rough-housing. "Someday, Chrysalis, I'm going to show you a side of you that not even you know about," he said with a touch of pity. "Someday. For now, do as I have said and everything will be right. Fail to do so... and there will be trouble." Without another word, he walked off, intent on leaving this place before he did something to the queen that would leave his son an emotionless wreck and haunt him for the rest of his life.

"See you in a few weeks then?" Chrysalis called out, content with lying on the floor and purring like some insane, insect-like cat. "Call me?"

Outside once more, Spike saw Twilight standing over a changeling, all of the others standing several paces back in apparent fear.

"I said, if you poked my butt one more time, I was going to suplex you," the alicorn mare said, snorting in anger as the changeling underneath her moaned in pain. She had obviously been pushed past her limit, judging from the errant bits of her mane sticking out like she had been struck by lightning. "What now bitch?"

"Twilight, calm down; we're leaving," Spike said, walking past the angry mare.

After punching the changeling in the gut for good measure, Twilight glared a glare so glaringly angry that three of the changeling guards nearly shat themselves in fright. Following the dragon, she looked up at him, huffing and puffing and at least from what it seemed, trying to not run back and choke out the moaning changeling.

"What took you so long?" she asked.

"I had to make sure my son was taken care of during my absence; Chrysalis wasn't treating him properly, so I made sure he would be," Spike said. He was just secretly glad Chrysalis had revealed herself to be such a freak, or else a more legitimate reaction would have been something akin to a war.

"Oh," Twilight said, her previous thoughts before her little "rage mode" coming back to her. She would eventually have to tell Spike all of the truth; he already knew pretty much most of it, but there was another part, a small piece of the puzzle through which he would come to know why everything that had happened... had happened.

Soon, sooner than she had planned for but far later than she had wished, Spike would know why she had done what she had done, not just to protect Equestria, but why she had chosen Spike. Soon enough, all the little lies that held her world together would come apart, and just where would she be standing when the dust settled?

"Twilight, snap out of it; there's still more notes to be taken on all of the videos," Spike said, snapping her out of her inner pity-party once more.

"Great," she muttered. "I can't wait."


	5. Not All Accept It

"Can you stop saying you're sorry? I forgave you and everypony else already; just because you haven't forgiven yourself doesn't mean you need my help in order to do so," Spike grumbled as he walked out of the Ponyville library. He was off to visit Zecora, whom he had heard had also been wishing to see him, though the last pony who tried apologizing to him was making his journey rather... difficult.

"Come on, Spike; just please tell me ah ain't the most horrible, most worthless pony in all o' Equestria fer doin' what ah did ta ya!" Applejack pleaded, clutching at his leg like a filly who didn't want mommy to go to work after dropping them off for their first day of school.

"Then why do you insist you are, even though I've never said anything to back up such a claim?"

"Because Spike," the orange mare said, clutching even tighter. "Ah didn't know you weren't really awake! You were talkin' to me before, after and durin' every time were in there! I didn't think nothin' of it, but... if ah had known, ah... ah..."

"You wouldn't have done it?" Spike asked, genuinely surprised at how badly this was tearing up Applejack inside. She was usually so calm, so able to handle herself, but the true implications of what she had done must have been catching up to her faster than he would have previously believed. Twilight must have told them all of the conversation between Spike and herself back when he had first woken up. The fact that none of them seemed to have a problem with his whole "Dragon Law" claim on their properties only confused him more. Surely there were other mares out there, possibly quite few in number, that wouldn't be so keen to declaring half of their estate belonged to the dragon that gave them their foals?

Spike would have to tread carefully around that issue; while Dragon Law itself was older than most races of creatures, it was flexible when needed, and to avoid a huge mess, Spike would indeed have to be very careful when handling the implications of the Law. His mates still owned their property; he just had a vested interest in it, and that mea-

"Spike! Didn't ya hear what ah just said?" Applejack asked.

"That you wouldn't have done it if you had known I wasn't all there?" He hadn't been paying attention at all, but then again, Applejack's line of thought on the matter was rather predictable.

"Damn straight! Ah nevah bothered to ask Twilight about the matter, and since ah was just so busy all th' time with work on the farm, what little time together we had in that cave was just too precious ta me! Ah... ah was scared if ah started askin' questions, ah might not git ta see you as much, seein' as "skippin' ahead in line" or tradin' places was mighty looked down upon, due to Twilight's crazy proper procedures 'n stuff."

Spike grunted and pried the orange mare off of his leg, holding her up to his face. "Applejack, we'll talk about this later, okay?" he asked. "Right now, I just need to know; did any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders go into my cave?"

"Why does that matter?" Applejack asked.

"Because I need to know, dammit!'

"No, Spike, none of 'em went into yer cave. First of all, they were too young to volunteer, and second, even if they had wanted to, they had all promised each other to wait until you came outta the cave. They wanted ta say hi after yer hibernation was dun, but... life got in the way 'n they're still dealin' with runnin' the Cutie Mark Crusaders 'n stuff. You got alotta foals now who'll be getting' cutie marks in a couple o' years, and somepony's gonna need to help them along with findin' their special talent."

Spike gently set the pony down. "Thank you, Applejack, but I must be going. Go back home."

"Oh... a-all righty then," Applejack said, picking herself up and slowly walking off.

Spike sighed; forgiving these mares was easier than one might think, but dealing with the implications of it all, plus their own problems... it was already starting to wear on him. Plus, he had to find out whether or not most of the mares, if any, knew he had been asleep during their mating. If he wasn't careful about it, there could be massive lawsuits filed all across the country against Twilight and the princesses for false information leading to pregnancy. The program would be forever tainted, seeing as, according to Twilight, no other participant in history had ever been in Spike's position, nor had any of them been something other than a pony.

He didn't care about the program; all he cared about now was his family.

Which brought up the question; just why had Twilight chosen him to be a living impregnation machine? Had she thought it would appeal to his dragon nature, which cared about hoards and prestige and honor above all else? Had she forgotten he had been raised by ponies and thought more like them than he did a dragon? Or maybe she had planned about that last part, knowing that, as a pony-thinking dragon, he wouldn't have gone on a rampage at such a crime? Dragons tolerated insults like one might expect; with violence and rage. Spike, ever since he had been transformed by greed, feared what his dragon side could do, and so suppressed as much of the more "troublesome" parts as he could. He didn't want to be a slave to his emotions any more than he wanted to be a slave to societal whims.

He was his own dragon, and damn this program and all in it and all who had thought he should act some way in the midst of all of this; he would not just "take one for the team", but he would not lash out like some selfish, uncaring monster. He was Spike, father of a new generation, and that meant he had responsibilities, duties that he could no more ignore than Celestia and Luna could ignore their roles in raising the sun and moon.

So wrapped up in his thoughts, he did not notice he had reached Zecora's hut until his nose bumped into it. Holding back a sneeze, and gently rubbing his face, Spike knocked.

"Hello?" he asked. "Zecora, are you in there? It's me, Spike."

"Zuri, answer the door!"

"No, you answer it Hodari; it's your turn!"

"Fine, you bunch of foals, I'll get it." With a creak, the door opened, and there stood a rather lanky little zebra. Only... zebras didn't have a small set of leathery, reptilian wings by their sides, nor did they had a set of spine running along the top of their head.

"Hi! My name's Nella," the little zebra said, her voice much higher-pitched than Zecora's. "What's your name?"

Didn't they hear him through the door? "My name is Spike. I'm looking for Zecora; is she around?"

"She's in the back getting a few ingredients for a potion," Nella said. "Why don't you come inside? She shouldn't be long."

Walking inside, Spike looked around; Zecora's hut was the same as he remembered it, only there were several more doors leading off to what must have been new additions to the hut. His children's rooms, no doubt, and judging from their expressions, they had never seen a dragon before.

"Hodari! Zuri! Say hello to Mr. Spike," Nella hissed, her two younger siblings stepping out from behind a table. They must have been twins, as they looked to be the same age and had very similar features.

No, not all zebras look alike; that's racist.

"H-Hello Mr. Spike," they said, clearly unsure just who this dragon was.

"Hello Zuri; hello Hodari," he said. "Nella, do you know who I am?"

"A dragon?" the older filly asked. "It's kind of a dead giveaway."

These little ones didn't talk at all like their mother; maybe she was trying to help them fit in? "Well, yes, but that's not what I meant. I mean, do you know who I am? Has your mother... has she ever mentioned me before?"

"Hmm... she did say that she knew a dragon a few years ago, but hadn't talked to him for a long time," Nella said. "Are you that dragon?"

"Hmm... she did say that she knew a dragon a few years ago, but hadn't talked to him for a long time," Nella said. "Are you that dragon?"

"Yes, I'm that dragon," he said softly. "Have you ever wondered where your father was?"

"No, mom always said he was off somewhere where we couldn't see him," Nella said. "I think that means he's dead."

She said it so strikingly plain, as if she had been long contemplating the thought of her father not being alive, that Spike felt a little more of his heart break. "No, no young ones," Spike said softly. "I am your father."

Three pairs of eyes blinked in confusion before widening in total and utter surprise. "D-Daddy?" Hodari and Zuri asked, rushing up to Spike's face and looking him deep in the eyes. "You're... you're our daddy?"

"Yes," Spike said. "How else do you think you had spines, wings and those little fangs I see you trying to hide? Most zebras don't have those."

As if on cue, Nella pursed her lips to try and hide the tiny little incisors poking out from under her upper lip. The twins merely giggled and threw their little legs around each of Spike's arms.

"Daddy's home, daddy's home!" the cried out, just as Spike looked up to see another figure standing on the far side of the room.

"Zuri, Hodari and Nella, go to your rooms, please. I must speak alone with Mr. Spike, alone, and at ease," the older zebra said.

"Aw, mom, do we have to? Daddy just got home and we haven't seen him ever," Zuri said with a diabetes-causing look in her soft, little eyes.

"Do as your mother says, Zuri," Spike said, gently nudging her and her brother off of his arms with his face. "This won't take long."

The three little foals nodded in resignation and slowly walked off to their rooms, which were gently shut behind them by Zecora.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, mister dragon?" the zebra said. "I had not yet heard that you were arisen."

"I just got up a few days ago, Zecora," Spike said. "First things first, I don't hate you for what you did to me in the cave; as far as I'm concerned, it's water under the bridge."

"If you wish it so, then it is," the zebra said softly. "I only wish that the foals hear nothing of this."

"They will know, eventually, when they are old enough to understand it," the dragon said. "Right now, I need to talk to you about their upbringing. From what I've seen, you've been doing a fabulous job; Nella's as sharp as a tack and the little ones are pretty bright for their age."

"I would have it no other way," Zecora said. "Still, that must not be all you wished to talk about this day."

"No; I want them to know of their heritage," Spike said. "They have my blood running in their veins, and with that, abilities zebras don't. I don't want them scared if they can't control them; I want to help them find their path in life, like any father should. I don't want to be in the shadows, just watching them from afar, Zecora; I need to be in their life."

"A father they will need, for they are still young," the mare said a she walked over to a bubbling kettle and poured in some dried herbs. "Still, I fear for them, for the harshest of words can arise from a mere foal's tongue."

"What do you mean?" Spike asked.

"Many of Ponyville's youth are of your siring, yes, but my children are still very different, as you might guess," she replied. "They will always be different, far more than any other; all in part due to the heritage of their mother."

Spike was silent for a few moments. "It's because of their zebra half, isn't it? You're still worried they won be accepted, as you weren't, because of how much they resemble you."

"Yes, though I must admit that was a very good guess," Zecora said softly. "That is why they speak the way they do; if they are to fit in, they must speak as other foals do, too."

"Zecora... you don't have to make them speak like everypony else," Spike said softly. "They should know your heritage as much as they should know of mine. Just because they look different doesn't mean they won't be accepted. Look at me; I'm nowhere near looking like a pony and I still was accepted into society. Maybe a bit more than I would have liked, but still; they won't be any different from any of their half brothers or sisters in Ponyville or across the kingdom. They need to know your side of their family as much as they need to know me. Please don't shut them out."

Zecora was silent for a few minutes, simply staring into her pot of boiling... soup? It had to have been soup; it smelled delicious. "Then they shall know," she said finally, turning back to Spike. "But you will be there for them, no?"

"Of course I'll be there for them," Spike said, gently pulling the zebra into a soft hug. "I'll always be there for them, hopefully until there comes a time when they don't need me anymore."

"Such a day is long in the making," the zebra mare said with a soft smile. "Come now, help me with my cooking. This soup is their lunch for today, and then for dessert, we'll all be going to Sugarcube Corner for parfait."

"Sounds good to me," the dragon said with a smile, happy that, for once, one of his children's mothers had already forgiven herself for her crimes in the cave. All that was left now was to deal with all the others out there.

But he knew he could do it. He was not only a dragon, Spike the dragon, but a father; Spike, the father.

Hmm... he kind of like that title.


End file.
